An artist has attracted attention on the internet after posting his ballpoint pen art.

Samuel Silva from Portugal has produced photo-realistic drawings of people and animals simply using an array of different-coloured pens. His most popular artwork on deviantART at the moment is of a redheaded girl from a picture taken by photographer Kristina Tararina.

Silva claimed to have spent approximately 30 hours replicating the photo of the girl, adding: "I have eight coloured Bic ballpoint pens. For this, I used six of them plus black. They are just common everyday ballpoint pens.

"I don't mix [the colours] nor blend them. Ballpoint pen ink dries instantly and cannot be erased. I just cross-hatch the different colours in layers to create the illusion of blending and the illusion of colours I don't actually have."

Though Silva is a lawyer, he has been drawing and painting since the age of 2.